Skip to main content

University Challenged: Volume Twenty-Eight (27.03.17)


They say the show ain’t over until the fat lady sings, but in the case of this series of University Challenge, it ain’t over until another team winds up facing the wrath of Wolfson Cambridge, AKA Team Monkman.

It’s well known how much humour the man can inject into such a potentially dry and joyless show; every small utterance is delivered with comedic gusto, except you know that no writing was involved. He’s an natural in his unnaturalness and a human antidepressant; I laughed nearly every time he spoke.

See below for my mostly Monk-themed tweets; there’ll only be more to follow when he returns next week.

Emmanuel Cambridge Vs. Wolfson Cambridge (27.03.17)

8:03pm: Monkman: a God Amongst Monkmen.
`
8:04pm: Monkman's made special effort tonight with his hastily scissored fringe.

8:05pm: Monkman has the look of a man who's delighted to be sitting on his spike.

8:07pm: Thomas Moore Moore Moore...how do you like it? How do you like it?

8:07pm: Has Monkman worn the same outfit for every show?

8:07pm: I'm gay for Monkman.

8:09pm: Hill's back with his Joe Brown hair.

8:15pm: Imagine sitting next to Monkman. Imagine being in the same room as him. Imagine his voice vibrating your eardrums.

8:17pm: I have to say @Bobby_Seagull's looking particularly dapper this evening.

8:19pm: My nan used to have a Barton-Singer in her sewing room.

8:19pm: Cosgrove can be found in the dictionary, under 'nonchalant'.

8:20pm: Monkman favours a fake collar over an actual shirt.

8:22pm: Monkman has the face of a man who regrets sucking that lemon.

8:24pm: Chaudhri has the expression of a man who's smug about the poo he secretly hid in Paxman's fridge.

8:27pm: Chaudhri reminds me of Doug.


8:28pm: Monkman is my religion.

8:30pm: Sad at the loss of Seagull. Delighted at the promise of more Monkman. Bittersweet.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

'...I'm Gonna Look at You 'til My Eyes Go Blind."

Over the past week or two, I’ve been on a bit of a Sheryl Crow kick, largely thanks to rediscovering her cover of one of my most-liked Bob Dylan songs. She has one of my favourite female voices, yet despite this, I only own one CD and that’s just a single (her '97 release ‘Hard to Make a Stand’); on that basis, you can only imagine how much of her back catalogue I’d own if I hated her (it would fall into minus-figures). Dylan, conversely, takes up more of my collection than anyone else, save The Beatles and Paul McCartney’s solo work. He’s one of those artists who, when you get him, you really get him - and once I’d tuned into his style as a student, I'd time and again be blown away by his lyrics; he’ll have more jaw-dropping imagery in one track than other people fit in a whole career. These days, I mostly listen to music in the morning when getting ready, and more often than not, this will consist of a suggested YouTube playlist when I’m in the bath, r...
Read more

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...
Read more

Not The Bayeux One.

The Carole King album Tapestry has been my 'getting-ready-in-the-morning' soundtrack for the past few weeks.  It's been a favourite album ever since I was a student, which makes for a pleasantly gentle way to usher in the start of a day. I've always been a fan of a well-crafted song, which is something of a Carole King hallmark, ever since she started writing with her first husband in the early Sixties. Tapestry may be an unimaginative choice for a favourite LP, as it suggests I haven't delved that far into her career, but it's still an undoubted classic; anything with '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' and 'You've Got A Friend' on it can't really fail; if nothing else, it proves she likes writing songs with long titles.  Next month, she's set to perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at a gig in Hyde Park, which I would have loved to have gone to, if it weren...
Read more